Tue Apr 7, 2015 7:27am EDT
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during the 2015 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting award in Washington March 23, 2015.
REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS
(Reuters) – China called on other countries on Tuesday to respect its judicial sovereignty after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced as “inexcusable” the detention of five women activists.
China has previously rejected calls from Britain and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to release the women activists, who had planned to demonstrate against sexual harassment on public transport.
The five young women had made signs and stickers bearing slogans like “stop sexual harassment” and calling for police to arrest molesters, photographs circulated by rights groups showed.
The women – Li Tingting, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan and Wu Rongrong – were detained on the weekend of International Women’s Day, March 8, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Clinton had tweeted “The detention of women’s activists in China must end. This is inexcusable”.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said the matter was an internal affair.
“China is a country ruled by law. Relevant departments will handle the relevant case according to law. We hope that public figures in other countries can respect China’s judicial sovereignty and independence,” Hua told a daily news briefing.
